• Energy Research

Healthcare supply chains have evolved drastically over time, with complex domestic and global networks and interactions spanning across various organizations and entities. This gives rise to numerous challenges related to information and data pertaining to medical devices used within healthcare supply chain, including data integrity, provenance, traceability, and transparency. Counterfeit medical devices are a major obstacle that the healthcare industry is trying to resolve as it poses a huge risk to the safety of its users. Therefore, it is paramount to have an end-to-end system in place that tracks medical devices not only as they move across the supply chain but also as they are purchased and sold online in digital marketplaces. Unfortunately, existing systems follow a centralized architecture, which leads to being a single point of failure and eradicating transparency and authentication. In this paper, we propose a non-fungible token (NFT) based solution that exploits blockchain smart contracts, integrates tokenization protocols, and utilizes a decentralized storage system for a reliable and efficient medical devices traceability system and ownership management solution. In our proposed system, NFTs are used to represent the digital twin of the medical device. This digital twin captures the medical device attributes and its relevant metadata during its life cycle from production, manufacturing, distribution and movement, to current use and ownership. We present the system architecture and implementation details, along with tested algorithms that define the various functions of our smart contracts. The paper also presents testing details and analyses the solution’s feasibility through a cost and security analysis.

Blockchain technology is showing a significant potential to disrupt a number of information technology domains. One of the especially interesting areas for blockchain applications is smart grid. A number of early papers have been published in this area, however, there is no systematic analysis of the impact of blockchain technology on decentralization of smart grids. In this paper, we analyze the standard NIST conceptual model of smart grid domains with respect to the three critical blockchain features: decentralization, trust and incentive. We integrate our findings in order to produce a fully decentralized blockchain-enabled smart grid considering NIST conceptual model. The results of this paper should help smart grid developers and researchers to obtain a conceptual reference of the overall applicability of blockchain technology in smart grid domains and sub-domains. In addition this research will help to identify and guide smart grid blockchain development and research initiatives.

The hydrogen economy has recently gained significant importance as a critical component of energy systems, offering a way to reduce carbon emissions and pave the way to a sustainable, clean energy future. This review leverages Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling to comprehensively analyze the rapidly expanding body of literature on hydrogen economy. In this review paper, we identify research areas, track their evolution, and explore different topics in this field. We examine literature from various perspectives on various subject areas and compare it before and after 2020 to highlight progress and shifting focuses. Our findings demonstrate a significant rise in research output on the hydrogen economy post-2020. Moreover, key trends include green hydrogen production, renewable energy integration, and the use of waste and biomass in hydrogen generation. We further discuss future research directions and map our findings to the current industry status and internationally announced hydrogen plans. Finally, we highlight the limitations and implications of our research for academia, industry, and policymakers. This review provides a comprehensive view of the hydrogen economy, using LDA to reveal in-depth insights into this emerging field.

Recientemente, la computación en la nube se ha convertido en una de las plataformas más utilizadas para proporcionar servicios de cómputo, almacenamiento y análisis a usuarios finales y organizaciones sobre una base de pago por uso, con alta agilidad, disponibilidad, escalabilidad y resiliencia. Esto permite a individuos y organizaciones tener acceso a un gran conjunto de recursos de alto procesamiento sin la necesidad de establecer una plataforma de computación de alto rendimiento (HPC). Desde los últimos años, la programación de tareas en la computación en la nube se considera un recurso eminente para los investigadores. Sin embargo, la programación de tareas se considera un problema NP-duro. En este trabajo de investigación, investigamos y comparamos empíricamente algunas de las heurísticas de programación más destacadas del estado de la técnica en términos de duración, utilización promedio de recursos (ARUR), rendimiento y consumo de energía. La comparación se amplía evaluando los enfoques en términos de desequilibrio de carga a nivel de VM individual. Después de una simulación exhaustiva, el análisis comparativo ha revelado que el algoritmo de programación consciente de tareas (TASA) y la programación proactiva basada en la simulación y el equilibrio de carga (PSSLB) superaron al resto de los enfoques y parecen ser una opción óptima teniendo en cuenta el intercambio entre las complejidades involucradas y el rendimiento logrado con respecto a la duración, el rendimiento, la utilización de recursos y el consumo de energía. Récemment, le cloud computing est devenu l'une des plates-formes largement utilisées pour fournir des services de calcul, de stockage et d'analyse aux utilisateurs finaux et aux organisations sur une base de paiement à l'utilisation, avec une grande agilité, disponibilité, évolutivité et résilience. Cela permet aux individus et aux organisations d'avoir accès à un grand nombre de ressources de traitement élevées sans avoir besoin d'établir une plate-forme de calcul haute performance (HPC). Depuis quelques années, la planification des tâches dans le cloud computing est considérée comme un recours éminent pour les chercheurs. Cependant, la planification des tâches est considérée comme un problème NP difficile. Dans ce travail de recherche, nous étudions et comparons empiriquement certaines des heuristiques d'ordonnancement les plus avancées en termes de Makespan, d'utilisation moyenne des ressources (ARUR), de débit et de consommation d'énergie. La comparaison est ensuite étendue en évaluant les approches en termes de déséquilibre de charge de niveau VM individuel. Après une simulation approfondie, l'analyse comparative a révélé que l'algorithme TASA (Task Aware Scheduling Algorithm) et le PSSLB (Proactive Simulation-based Scheduling and Load Balancing) ont surperformé par rapport au reste des approches et semblent être un choix optimal en gardant à l'esprit le commerce entre les complexités impliquées et les performances obtenues concernant Makespan, le débit, l'utilisation des ressources et la consommation d'énergie. Recently, Cloud computing has emerged as one of the widely used platforms to provide compute, storage and analytics services to end-users and organizations on a pay-as-you-use basis, with high agility, availability, scalability, and resiliency.This enables individuals and organizations to have access to a large pool of high processing resources without the need for establishing a high-performance computing (HPC) platform.From the past few years, task scheduling in Cloud computing is reckoned as eminent recourse for researchers.However, task scheduling is considered an NP-hard problem.In this research work, we investigate and empirically compare some of the most prominent state-of-the-art scheduling heuristics in terms of Makespan, Average resource utilization (ARUR), Throughput, and Energy consumption.The comparison is then extended by evaluating the approaches in terms of individual VM level load imbalance.After extensive simulation, the comparative analysis has revealed that Task Aware Scheduling Algorithm (TASA) and Proactive Simulation-based Scheduling and Load Balancing (PSSLB) outperformed as compared to the rest of the approaches and seems to be optimal choice keeping in view the trade-of between the complexities involved and the performance achieved concerning Makespan, Throughput, resource utilization, and Energy consumption. في الآونة الأخيرة، برزت الحوسبة السحابية كواحدة من المنصات المستخدمة على نطاق واسع لتوفير خدمات الحوسبة والتخزين والتحليل للمستخدمين النهائيين والمؤسسات على أساس الدفع حسب الاستخدام، مع مرونة عالية وتوافر وقابلية للتطوير ومرونة. وهذا يمكّن الأفراد والمؤسسات من الوصول إلى مجموعة كبيرة من موارد المعالجة العالية دون الحاجة إلى إنشاء منصة حوسبة عالية الأداء (HPC). من السنوات القليلة الماضية، يُحسب جدولة المهام في الحوسبة السحابية كملاذ بارز للباحثين. ومع ذلك، تعتبر جدولة المهام مشكلة صعبة NP. في هذا العمل البحثي، نحقق ونقارن تجريبيًا بعضًا من أبرز استدلالات الجدولة الحديثة من حيث Makespan، ومتوسط استخدام الموارد (ARUR)، والإنتاجية، واستهلاك الطاقة. ثم يتم توسيع المقارنة من خلال تقييم الأساليب من حيث اختلال توازن الحمل على مستوى الجهاز الافتراضي الفردي. بعد محاكاة مكثفة، كشف التحليل المقارن أن خوارزمية جدولة المهام (TASA) والجدولة القائمة على المحاكاة الاستباقية وموازنة الأحمال (PSSLB) تفوقت مقارنة ببقية الأساليب ويبدو أنها الخيار الأمثل مع مراعاة التجارة بين التعقيدات المعنية والأداء الذي تم تحقيقه فيما يتعلق بمكسبان والإنتاجية واستخدام الموارد واستهلاك الطاقة.

Efforts to combat environmental degradation and tackle climate change have gained significant global recognition. Many advocate that all consumable products should carry sustainability labels to inform consumers about their production methods, resources, and disposal practices. However, the lack of standardized sustainability labels and limited scope of certification bodies pose challenges. Additionally, reported sustainability metrics rely heavily on the transparency and openness of the reporting entities. Therefore, in this paper, we leverage decentralized blockchain technology to transparently document supply chain transactions and sustainability data, cultivating trust among stakeholders and consumers while promoting environmentally friendly practices that lead to a circular economy. Our proposed blockchain-based solution exploits the intrinsic features of the blockchain by building programmable logic of different tailored Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using smart contracts. In our adaptable system design, KPI scores are used to calculate a product’s overall sustainability index score. Our implementation is integrated with the decentralized storage InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to avoid the high cost of storage on the chain. We present a complete solution with algorithmic details and testing procedures as well as an evaluation of the proposed system accompanied by a cost and security analysis. All of our developed code for smart contracts has been made publicly available on GitHub.

Today's systems, approaches, and technologies leveraged for managing oil and gas supply chain operations fall short in providing operational transparency, traceability, audit, security, and trusted data provenance features. Also, a large portion of the existing systems is centralized, manual, and highly disintegrated which make them vulnerable to manipulation and the single point of failure problem. In this survey, we explore the potential opportunities and applications of blockchain technology in managing the exploration, production, and supply chain and logistics operations in the oil and gas industry as it can offer traceability, immutability, transparency, and audit features in a decentralized, trusted, and secure manner. We discuss state-of-the-art blockchain-based schemes, research projects, business initiatives, and case studies to highlight the practicability of blockchain in the oil and gas industry. We present the potential opportunities brought about by blockchain technology in various use cases and application scenarios. We introduce several systems that leverage blockchain-based smart contracts to automate the important services in terms of tracking and tracing of petroleum products, protection of international trade documents, and coordination of purchasing and bidding activities for granting oil exploration rights to petroleum exploration and development companies. Finally, we present open challenges acting as future research directions.

Today's technologies, techniques, and systems leveraged for managing energy trading operations in electric vehicles fall short in providing operational transparency, immutability, fault tolerance, traceability, and trusted data provenance features. They are centralized and vulnerable to the single point of failure problem, and less trustworthy as they are prone to the data modifications and deletion by adversaries. In this paper, we present the potential advantages of blockchain technology to manage energy trading operations between electric vehicles as it can offer data traceability, immutability, transparency, audit, security, and confidentiality in a fully decentralized manner. We identify and discuss the essential requirements for the successful implementation of blockchain technology to secure energy trading operations among electric vehicles. We present a detailed discussion on the potential opportunities offered by blockchain technology to secure the energy trading operations of electric vehicles. We discuss several blockchain-based research projects and case studies to highlight the practicability of blockchain technology in electric vehicles energy trading. Finally, we identify and discuss open challenges in fulfilling the requirements of electric vehicles energy trading applications.